USTTI 25th Anniversary VideoIn celebration of our 25th Anniversary the USTTI is calling on our Alumni to help us commemorate our two and a half decades of service. To help tell the USTTI story on video we are asking our graduates to submit 60-90 second video clips detailing the positive impact the USTTI has had on you and your country. In your clip please include your name, country, organization and briefly describe what the USTTI means to you. The USTTI staff will review all submissions and create a video compilation that will be shown during our 25th Anniversary reception for the volunteer professors who have trained the more than 7,500 USTTI graduates in 166 developing countries. Submissions should be sent to usttivideos@gmail.com by November 16, 2007. We look forward to seeing your videos!

USTTI 25th Anniversary Alumni Reception at the World Radiocommunication ConferenceAttention Alumni, Ambassador Richard Russell, U.S. Representative to the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), and USTTI Chairman, Ambassador Michael R. Gardner, will host a luncheon reception on Friday, October 26, 2007 for USTTI Alumni and special friends of the USTTI attending the WRC in Geneva, Switzerland.

The reception, which is sponsored by the USTTI Board of Directors (Boeing, BT, Intelsat, at&t, Alcatel-Lucent, Qualcomm, Cisco, Intel, News Corporation, Verizon, The Hewlett-Packard Company, VeriSign, ) will take place from 12:30 to 14:30 at Restaurant Vieux-Bois, Avenue de al Paix 12 in Geneva. To confirm your attendance at this USTTI Alumni reception, please contact USTTI Curriculum Director, Brian T. McCloskey, at ustti.reception@gmail.com. Brian will be on-hand in Geneva on October 22nd to answer any questions you may have.

USTTI Completes Inaugural Rural Connectivity SeminarThe USTTI recently completed its first Seminar on Rural Connectivity. Fourteen senior officials traveled to Washington, DC and Santa Clara, CA to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented as they work to deploy modern communications throughout the rural communities in Columbia, Ecuador, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. With strong support from USAID officials in Washington, USTTI brought together experts from the public and private sectors to discuss the importance that enlightened policy decisions have on rural connectivity successes. This policy focused discussions in Washington were followed up with a three day hands-on interaction with experts from Intel Corporation at their headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. Aimed to kick start “shared access” programs in the developing world, graduates of this seminar were exposed to innovations that will help them analyze their options regarding: accessibility, connectivity, education and content. The seminar was a great success and we look forward to the second annual Rural Connectivity seminar in 2008.

Lebanon’s TRA Chairman, Dr. Kamal Shehadi, Visits USTTIFrom September 4th-8th the USTTI hosted Dr. Kamal Shehadi, Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in Lebanon. During his visit, Dr. Shehadi met with Ambassador Gardner to discuss future training opportunities for Lebanese telecom & IT officials. Throughout his four days in Washington, Dr. Shehadi had an intensive schedule of meetings with members of the USTTI Board of Directors in key Government and Industry positions to discuss the liberalization and privatization of the Lebanese Telecommunications market, attracting outside investment and the function of an independent regulator. In the future the USTTI looks forward to working with Dr. Shehadi and his four fellow commissioners as they promote a competitive, open ICT marketplace in Lebanon.

Columbus DayOn Monday, October 8, 2007 the USTTI staff will join millions of Americans in observing Columbus Day. Named for the famous explorer Christopher Columbus, who discovered America. This holiday is observed on the second Monday in October. Many offices including the USTTI, will be closed to observe this holiday.

Third Trimester UpdateThe USTTI is actively involved in our third trimester of training focused on Internet Security, Satellite Technology Innovations, ICT deployment and Emergency Management Communications. To date this year we have graduated 245 USTTI scholars from 90 developing countries. Also we are developing our expanded curriculum for 2008. Please continue to check our website for the latest announcements and updates.